Another Canadian singer-songwriter on the spotlight this week! This time we focus on Le Ren’s debut LP, “Leftovers”. Sure, the name might sound like we’re dealing a b-sides collection here, but this is prime folk material.
Steve Gunn’s sixth album, ‘Other You’ is a perfect end of summer album. It’s also our album of the week. Our 33th playlist of the year also features songs from new albums by Alex Rex, Aidan O’Rourke, Pile, Wednesday, Tré Burt, Summer Dean, and Matt Paxton.
Garrett T. Capps. Photo by Knelis / TakeRoot
It’s midnight in Groningen. It’s the end of an abnormally warm November saturday and it should also have been the end of an eight hour marathon of roots and americana across six rooms in the De Oosterpoort complex. But Garrett T. Capps and his NASA Country have different ideas. Suddenly, a “curfew” seems like a malleable concept as fellow Texans Robert Ellis and James Steinle join the band on stage for a sprawling and ecstatic “Born in San Antone” and a version of the classic “She’s About a Mover”, penned by San Antonio’s very own Doug Sahm. Capps seems comfortable as the frontman to a 21st century version of the mighty Texas Tornados, powered by a strong rhythm section and an unusual synth that takes his brand of Americana to another dimension. I’ve been calling it krautcountry after seeing them in Paradiso’s small room in the same evening as Faust and Camera, and you should too.
The Grote Zaal of De Oosterpoort during the 2018′s TakeRoot festival.
TakeRoot Festival. Saturday, 2 November 2019, at De Oosterpoort, Groningen, The Netherlands. Tickets for sale here.
Coming of age in the era of MySpace meant stumbling into a lot of “A little bit of everything, except country and rap” on your fellow scenester’s profiles. Fast forward some 15 years, and there’s a rapper headlining your favorite indie festival, much to the disgust of a few folks who haven’t grown from their proud everything-except-country-and-rap pedestal. But most young alternative Europeans still look at country music with the same disgusted look that your aunt made the first time she stumbled upon a 50 Cent music video.
Azniv Korkejian’s first album as Bedouine, drawing in equal parts from 60s folk music and the easygoing vibes of LA’s Echo Park (some sort of 21st century Laurel Canyon?), got us hooked for weeks. We can already tell the same is bound to happen with her second LP, “Bird Songs of a Killjoy”, finally released last week. Plus: new songs by The Hold Steady, Illiterate Light, Frankie Cosmos, Jesca Hoop, Mega Bog, Palehound, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Courtney Hartman, Erin Rae, Slaughter Beach, Dog, Los Retros, Bamboo, Chelsea Wolfe, Leslie Stevens, Honeysuckle, Rickie Lee Jones, Don DiLego, Jacob Faurholt, Paper Beat Scissors, Alan Power, Calexico and Iron & Wine, and Jamestown Revival.